EC WOES
Jaruphat hands letter to Suchon
Taikorn Pholsuwan, centre, a Democrat Party member, repeats his claim at a press conference yesterday that the Thai Rak Thai Party hired smaller parties to contest the April 2 general election.
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Senate speaker confirms receiving 'highly confidential' letter but Vasana stays mum
Election commissioner Jaruphat Ruang-suwan has tendered his resignation to Senate Speaker Suchon Chaleekrua, the speaker disclosed yesterday. Suchon said that the letter was dated on Monday and was labelled "highly confidential". Vasana Puemlarp, the Election Commission chairman, yesterday declined to confirm Jaruphat's resignation. The EC chief said, however, that the remaining commissioners would discuss what to do next if Jaruphat had really quit his seat. Jaruphat could not be reached for comment yesterday. On Monday, Suchon denied a rumour that he had received Jaruphat's resignation. The Senate speaker said yesterday that Jaruphat's secretary had confirmed that the resignation was genuine. However, Suchon said he had yet to discuss the matter with Jaruphat personally. Suchon met with his team of legal advisers to discuss finding a replacement for Jaruphat. The meeting, held at Parliament building, lasted more than two hours. The Senate speaker told a subsequent press conference that he had sent the resignation letter to the EC chairman for verification, and that the process of replacing Jaruphat and filling the other vacant EC seat will start soon after the document was confirmed. Senator Sunthorn Jinda-in, a legal adviser to the Upper House speaker, said yesterday that Jaruphat did not have to submit his resignation to Suchon, and handing the letter to the EC's secretariat office should be legally sufficient. Meanwhile, legal experts yesterday questioned the legitimacy of the EC now that there are only three commissioners left after Jaruphat's departure. Thammasat University law lecturer Banjerd Singkaneti said that the EC might try to interpret the law in its favour, but in fact it had lost legitimacy when the Constitution Court ruled that the April 2 general election was unlawful. Senator Kaewsun Atibodhi, a legal expert, agreed, saying that the EC had lost public credibility. In a related development, scores of university students staged a protest at the EC head office in the morning. Some of the protesters threw tomatoes and bananas at a roof tile plastered with photos and names of the four election commissioners. Placards with messages such as "The public's faith in the EC is depleted" and "Get out now" were displayed during the protest.
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